The winners of an Imagine Cup contest to see who could build the best application for the new Windows Phone 7 got an unexpected surprise: the first preview Windows Phone 7 devices given to any developers outside of Microsoft.

All 400 competitors at this year?s finals received vouchers for their own version of the new phone ? they just have to wait until the phones are ready, said Jon Perera, general manager of Microsoft Education. He noted that the students will get the phones sooner than they are available commercially this fall.